Priest Wempe molested not one...not two but THIRTEEN boys, and was never punished....

[Mrs. Gimpy!]

Past charges surround priest abuse case

Michael Wempe leaves the Los Angeles County jail in 2003.​

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Michael Wempe's attorney doesn't deny his client was a child molester in the 1970s and '80s, but he insists the once-revered priest never committed the alleged crime for which he is going on trial -- molesting a boy in the 1990s.
"These new charges were fabricated," defense attorney Leonard Levine said ahead of Monday's scheduled opening statements in Wempe's trial. "He's being prosecuted not for what he's charged with but for what he did 20, 30 years ago."

That could prove a problem for jurors. Even if they are able to clearly separate in their minds the old charges from the new, they "will still pause before they let a priest go when he has done so much harm to so many," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson.
"They would be worried about the message it would send," she said.
Wempe, 66, was once charged with molesting 13 boys in the 1970s and '80s, but the charges were dismissed after the U.S. Supreme Court in July 2003 struck down a state law that allowed retroactive prosecution of decades-old sex crimes charges involving children.

The allegations Wempe now faces were made by a young man who came forward three months after the Supreme Court's ruling.The accuser, now 20, is the brother of two boys whose cases were dismissed. Levine claims the allegations are the fabrications of a young man seeking retribution for his brothers.

During questioning of prospective jurors, Levine asked if they could put aside Wempe's past conduct and judge the former priest only on the current charges. Some said they could but many admitted they could not.
This case also raises questions about the conduct of Cardinal Roger Mahony, who appointed Wempe chaplain for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after sending him to therapy for allegedly indiscreet conduct with boys. The accuser in the latest case says he was first molested at the hospital.

Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks, who is prosecuting Wempe, said Mahony, the leader of the nation's largest Catholic Archdiocese, will be a peripheral figure in the case if he is mentioned at all.

"This case has always been about this particular individual," Hicks said of Wempe.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[Mrs. Gimpy!]

judge: did you rape that boy?

priest: which one?

judge: How many were there???

priest: um....more than one....

Judge: more than five?

priest: no thirteen actually.....

judge: :nono: i sentece you to....... PRAY......

just makes me sick......... i dont care if its "not right" to look at his past (that he never paid for!!!). idiots!!!!@!!!!!!! id like to see how everyone in that case would have felt if their kids were one of his 13 molested kids....only i was the judge.........oh the wonderful sentences i would give......


its like saying:

father: son, did you steal that t.v yesterday?

son: yes...

father: welll, as long as you stole it yesterday, i cant punish you for it today

 

[Rage (SoCal)]

disgusting.

 

[diminuendo]

castration...not just for eunichs anymore.

 

[spatch]

Ahh, and if he was caught with a few G's of test, he would be getting locked up. Sad, sad day.

 

[B5150]

id like to see how everyone in that case would have felt if their kids were one of his 13 molested kids....

Suppose they were (in the past) one of those boys (at one time a victim themselves). I believe it is called an impartial jury. Statistically 1 in 4 boys and 2 in 4 girls are molested (victim of some form of inappropriate sexual advance) before they are out of their teens. That kind of makes finding an impartial jury quite the task. That also means that potentially 25% of the males and 50% of the females here on the board are victims as well.

You could ask me why I would know this. But you are a real smart girl and figure things out all by yourself.

 

[wastedwhiteboy2]

sad to say but I see this all the time. if they get convicted of one kid and there are more in the home, the other kids were most likely victims also. even after finding out about the other kids they never get charged for them. oh and the pervert gets probation.

 

[CDB]

You could ask me why I would know this. But you are a real smart girl and figure things out all by yourself.

Then I ain't so smart. Where does this figure come from? It sounds reminiscent of the 1 in 4 women are victims of rape/sexual abuse statistic, which is true if you define rape and sexual abuse as including being looked at funny and other such things. sounds doubtful to me for various reasons. For one it would mean either the small percentage of the population with these tendencies would have to be extremely prolific, or these types of sexual predators are far more common than anyone thinks.

 

[B5150]

Where does this figure come from?

Myself being a victim of childhood molestation (high school teacher) became well aware of the statistics when seeking and finding help as a struggling adult addict/alcoholic who also struggled with victim issues. Seems that it fucks up a lot of your life.

sounds doubtful to me for various reasons. For one it would mean either the small percentage of the population with these tendencies would have to be extremely prolific, or these types of sexual predators are far more common than anyone thinks.

I may have misquoted the the 2 in 4 girls but the rate still seems to stand at about 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys (only those are reported...mine wasn't).

Just a couple links.
http://www.childluresprevention.com/research/statistics.asp
http://www.darkness2light.org/KnowAbout/statistics_2.asp
http://www.womenofsubstance.org/sexabuse.htm

I am not going to spend my time defending the truth or facts. Find them for yourself...

 

[B5150]

is true if you define rape and sexual abuse as including being looked at funny and other such things.

some help for you with defining child sexual abuse (aka: molestation)

http://www.therapistfinder.net/Child-Abuse/Sexual-Abuse.html

 

[satchmo23]

Well he sure is lucky one of his victims wasn't one of my kids. If that was the case he would have two choices, request a minimum sentence of 25 years... or death. The latter of course not being handed down by a court. If he chose the first he would have a better chance of not being killed upon release, but I'm not positive how great a chance he would have anyway.

I'm actually surprised most of these molesters who get minimum sentences aren't vanishing off the street more frequently. If it were my kid they would'nt get more than two breaths of free air before being whisked away to an isolated location to meet a most gruesome and extremely painful demise.

boy oh boy do I hate child abuse. That's why I couldnt become a social worker. I'd become a vigilante in no time.

 

[CDB]

I am not going to spend my time defending the truth or facts. Find them for yourself...

I will indeed. Given my strong opinion as to what should happen to such people it's about time I learned more about the issue. I'm still skeptical but I'll giver hera go and see what I find. The sites you posted, while I appreciate them, don't seem a good starting point. I can't find the 1 in 4 study online, though I have to say every site I've seen it quoted on has also quoted studies I recall being bogus on subjects like rape and sexual assault.

In general they seem like advocate sites, and however correct and laudable the cause they represent is, all advocates have a tendency to skew stats in favor of alarming levels. That's why so many heterosexuals that are otherwise low risk were getting AIDS so quickly a while back. Once you understand that Hatians who have fucked a million men and shared a billion needles are considered heterosexual nonusers of drugs when they emmigrate to the US under certain circumstances, you understand where the stat comes from.

And please understand this is a personal dig at you. I like Dennis Miller's solution to the problem of child abuse. Micro chips make it easy to track pedophiles, but burials make it easier and cost less. I just have trouble believing stats that seem so out of line that they indicate a reality that is bordering on barely disguised anarchy.

For example the one in six boys would indicate that, if there's a pedophile for every kid that's been molested, 16% or more of the population of men in this world are pedophiles. Even if there's only one active pedophile for every four kids hit according to that study, that seems a bit off and sensationalist, and it's not even accounting for the one in four girls who are abused. Put those two numbers together and it seems a little less than one quarter of the population of kids below 14 have been molested or sexually abused.

That seems a bit outrageous unless molestation and sexual abuse are defined fairly liberally, or we either have a shitload of pedophiles or a small number of very determined ones or some massive methodological problems in the studies concerned. I don't know which it is, but I'd be inclined off the bat to believe the stats are bit skewed rather than there being that many blatant perverts in our midst. And those are just the ones who have acted on their urges apparently, which leaves Christ knows how many sleepers. Seems a bit off is all.

 

[B5150]

@Mrs. Gimpy!:

You could ask me why I would know this. But you are a real smart girl and figure things out all by yourself.

All I meant by this was that I know a little about the victims as I was one myself.

@CDB: You may have to consider stepping outside the box on this one. Data and real world experiences are not going to match up. There are meeting halls across the world full of hundreds and thousands recovering adult victims of child molestation who are unreported victims just like myself. I am 40 yo and as little as that many years ago it was a very 'secret' abuse. All of these 20-30 yo cases of Catholic priest molesting is just the tip of the iceburg. I would very strongly tend to believe that these victims who are now coming out are just a minor precentage of those who have lived in a secret fear and shame and have not come out. Do you seriously believe that there are not multitudes of 20-30-40 or more yo cases of unreported molestations who the perpetrators were fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends etc, who are not 'pedephiles' on record. Come on, you are not that naive about the world around you. I believe that you are a very inteligent person who will find all the data you are looking for. The data is not real world evidence. I know what I am talking about and you, of course, are entitled to believe what you want.

 

[CDB]

I didn't mean to imply all the pedos would be known and documented. But numbers like you suggest, well that goes beyond crime to an epidemic of perversion. Not saying it isn't true, just that it seems a bit odd and I personally would not want to believe it, because if true it's way, way, way too fucking disturbing.

 

[B5150]

Not saying it isn't true, just that it seems a bit odd and I personally would not want to believe it, because if true it's way, way, way too fucking disturbing.

Indeed.

The greatest trick that Satan (aka: insert evil one of your choice) ever pulled off was making people believe he was not real.

 

[wastedwhiteboy2]

I look back at all the girls I dated when I was younger and it seems most of them said they were molested. of course the male #'s seem high but I cant think of one of my friends that would report it if they had been molested.
I dont think there is one perv molesting 4 kids, its more like 1 perv molesting 30 kids in his career before getting caught. when they get caught and put on probation, we do a polygraph. part of the poly is reporting all victims. a 40 yr old man would have 25-30 victims.
the pervs are hard to supervise because they are just like you and me, but on the inside they are f'd up. the only time they get caught violating their probation is when they get caught committing another crime.
satchmo, not ripping on you but the social workers that I deal with are usually the ones protecting these pervs from me. I'm getting good at ripping supervisors asses. maybe its just a f'd up state I live in. what you need to remember is they are nice guys, really good talkers, if they were not so convincing then they would not be very successful at molesting.

 

[Dutchman]

I can not describe the depth of anger I still feel today, a good half a century later, at the priest who molested me. The trial I went through in getting peple to believe me, the horror that he came back from a couple years of rehab out west and then was put in charge again of the counseling program at a major Catholic HS, still burn deeply. The numbers of incidents now coming to light and the huge numbers of perpetrators are simply overwhelming. The days of the church threatening families into silence with lawyers and sanctions are over.

 

[MarcusG]

I will indeed. Given my strong opinion as to what should happen to such people it's about time I learned more about the issue. I'm still skeptical but I'll giver hera go and see what I find. The sites you posted, while I appreciate them, don't seem a good starting point. I can't find the 1 in 4 study online, though I have to say every site I've seen it quoted on has also quoted studies I recall being bogus on subjects like rape and sexual assault.
......

CDB, the 1 in 4 myth was started by Mary Koss in her study in the 80s. Her definition of rape was very loose to fit her feminist agenda .

 

[B5150]

mo·lest Audio pronunciation of "molestation" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (m-lst)
tr.v. mo·lest·ed, mo·lest·ing, mo·lests

1. To disturb, interfere with, or annoy.
2. To subject to unwanted or improper sexual activity.

molestation

n 1: the act of subjecting someone to unwanted or improper sexual advances or activity (especially women or children)

Implying or equating rape and molestation as one in the same is where you are in error. Not the same.

 

[CDB]

CDB, the 1 in 4 myth was started by Mary Koss in her study in the 80s. Her definition of rape was very loose to fit her feminist agenda .

I remember that study though I forgot the name of the person who did it, Koss still doesn't ring a bell. But there was a study on one of the sites that B posted that said 1 in 4 girls is molested and another that said 1 in 6 boys are molested I believe. The 1 in 4 women are raped study was also there, and if they're willing to accept that study as evidence I have to wonder about the others until I read them myself.

The numbers they quote mean roughly 5,180,000 molested boys and 7,425,000 molested girls in this country alone. And yes, that's millions. Over ten million in fact. If each perv has around 30 victims that's roughly 420,000 pedofiles that have acted on their urges. Now that's not that staggering, it's less than a half a percent of the population of males in the US between the ages of 15 and 65.

However, those are just the active ones. I'd assume as with other justifiably illegal acts the less harmful the act is seen as being the more likely a person will be to do it, despite legal penalty. Basically that means there are probably a lot of pedos that are innactive 'sleepers' if you will, maybe looking at some porn here and there to satisfy their urges. It's also likely they are in the majority, which means we just blew past the 1% of the male population 15-65 mark, maybe even left it in the dust depending on the ratio of sleepers to actives. What's more you'd probably see fewer of the actives and sleepers at the extremes of the 15 to 65 grouping, which means there's an even more significant percentage of the population somewhere in between those ages that are the main offenders. And that's just the males. Depending on the grouping, unless my math is off the total number of active and sleeper pedos together could easily edge over 10-15% of a given population of males and females depending on what group you focus on.

Basically following those numbers means a significant percentage of our population is either massively perverted or NAMBLA really is a civil rights organization. The latter is ridiculous, the former is incredibly disturbing. Reality is hopefully a little less extreme.

 

[CDB]

mo·lest Audio pronunciation of "molestation" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (m-lst)
tr.v. mo·lest·ed, mo·lest·ing, mo·lests

1. To disturb, interfere with, or annoy.
2. To subject to unwanted or improper sexual activity.

molestation

n 1: the act of subjecting someone to unwanted or improper sexual advances or activity (especially women or children)

Implying or equating rape and molestation as one in the same is where you are in error. Not the same.

I agree. The rape study just points out that the, 'flexibility' shall we say, that some people use in defining terms in such studies allows for veru varied results. It's valid to question how these studies defined molestation. If, like the 'rape' study, someone basically looking at you in a way you don't like qualifies as molestation, or perhaps a complete lack of physical and even mental abuse can still be defined as molestation so long as the child felt wrong, or any other such standard is used in the study you can see how the results could be seen by some as not relevant.

I know how I define molestation, I know how the dictionary defines it, I need to know how they define it before I could judge whether or not I think they're right, and if I think their numbers useful. I'm not down playing the pain of kids who have been molested, just saying I doubt the actual numbers are that high. Tomorrow I get to go to the library to check out some newspapers to see if some ads ran correctly for a client. If I'm not burnt by the end, I can hopefully find some of these studies and sneak a peek at them.

 

[The Experiment]

CDB, the 1 in 4 myth was started by Mary Koss in her study in the 80s. Her definition of rape was very loose to fit her feminist agenda .

This is true. That 1 in 4 means being in an uncomfortable situation regarding sex.

Slightly related, the 76 cents to the dollar is another lie too. If a woman decides to be a housewife, she's counted as $0.00, which brings down the average. Supposedly with both men and women working, its 98 cents to the dollar.

Feminists like to lie and lie often.

I did a lot of stuff with the Catholic church as a boy. I never was molested but I think all of them had it in them. One was a drunk and got a DUI. The Church tried to hide it. Another time he was caught wandering around the block of the church, drunk. One day, he was gone. He never announced leaving or anything. He just disappeared.

Another one was real suspect. He was just...weird. For our Confirmation retreat, he started crying when he played a Jewel song. A month later, he was 6 hours away in a small town and needed someone to pick him up. I quit going to the church after being confirmed so I don't know if he molested anyone.

 

[satchmo23]

satchmo, not ripping on you but the social workers that I deal with are usually the ones protecting these pervs from me. I'm getting good at ripping supervisors asses. maybe its just a f'd up state I live in. what you need to remember is they are nice guys, really good talkers, if they were not so convincing then they would not be very successful at molesting.

Oh no worries brother, by no means am I defending social workers on any level. They're the same as anything else, you have your good ones and your bad ones. The problem is that it's run by the state. Almost all social programs run by the government is fucked unfortunately this one being screwed up is alot more costly to alot of innocent children. So to elaborate on what I stated I guess I couldn't become a social worker because I'd become a vigilante on BOTH sides of the coin in no time.
I've always considered myself and equal opportunity hater.

 

[RipdnTxs2]

Its really simple, if u abuse a child in a sexual way, U WILL BE KILLED IMMEDIATELY IN A PAINFUL WAY, quit analyzing and trying to figure out why these sick freaks do this, televise their deaths and abuse will drop dramatically. I have no empathy for these people who abuse children, we are better off with them no longer existing...

 

[Mrs. Gimpy!]

Its really simple, if u abuse a child in a sexual way, U WILL BE KILLED IMMEDIATELY IN A PAINFUL WAY, quit analyzing and trying to figure out why these sick freaks do this, televise their deaths and abuse will drop dramatically. I have no empathy for these people who abuse children, we are better off with them no longer existing...

:wave: i second that

 

[delta314]

The ones that actually molest a child should be put to death. There is no therapy, no rehab, just a slow, painful death. Preferably televised.

 

[Mrs. Gimpy!]

i prefer...throwing them to a pit unarmed with a gorilla, arangatang (sp?)....... a mastiff with rabies.....

they dont deserve a kind death like a lethal injection....oooh big woopty dooo.....

 

[AGELESS]

Its really simple, if u abuse a child in a sexual way, U WILL BE KILLED IMMEDIATELY IN A PAINFUL WAY, quit analyzing and trying to figure out why these sick freaks do this, televise their deaths and abuse will drop dramatically. I have no empathy for these people who abuse children, we are better off with them no longer existing...

Kids are an easy target at Catholic schools. They tell all their thoughs and deeds to a priest in confession. (profiling....duh)

A bad priest will use this to his advantage. In confession a child tells a good priest about another priest molesting him. What should the good priest do? Get him transferred...what a joke!! Turn the sick BASTARD in?? Have him spend a weekend at the ranch with RIPDINTXS?

I know they have rules and more rules....but holy ****...a young child is at risk here. The kids may be so ashamed they could even commit suicide.

BAD PRIESTS NEED TO GO!!

Good priests can and should make this happen one way or another.

If they dont, the Catholic church is doomed to fail because of a few.

How in the hell can a good priest know though confession and do nothing to help a child or his church?!?

If one of my kids are molested, Im going to jail for sure!

If I keep rambling on about these bastards...OK..DEEP BREATH....now Im alittle better....

 

[RipdnTxs2]

I remember the late Pope saying that if a priest only was convicted of abusing one child that they should just move, not be banished from the Church all together, WTF

 

[RipdnTxs2]

I remember the late Pope saying that if a priest only was convicted of abusing one child that they should just move, not be banished from the Church all together, ,:wtf: is that all about, just another example of Religion losing credibility.........

 

[EEmain]

Sit in any AA,ACOA,NA,CA,OA or any other ?A and you will find the numbers are more like 8 out of 10 women were sexually abused. And I mean oral, anal or vaginal by Grand fathers, fathers, uncles, brothers ect... NOW THAT PISSES ME THE **** OFF! See any women that prostitutes and I will gaurantee you somebody close has done her seriously wrong.

And society wonders why there is an abuse problem. Very few men will admit to being abused... I know, I was, and I`ve sat in about 1500 meetings and too many groups to count.

Don`t mind me this struck a nerve.

 

[CDB]

Sit in any AA,ACOA,NA,CA,OA or any other ?A and you will find the numbers are more like 8 out of 10 women were sexually abused. And I mean oral, anal or vaginal by Grand fathers, fathers, uncles, brothers ect... NOW THAT PISSES ME THE **** OFF!

I hate to be the unemotional prick here, but doesn't that strike you as a seriously slanted audience? I'm sure you'll find near 100% of the people at AA meetings are alcoholics too, you know?

Each individual instance of abuse is tragic, and I wouldn't mind soaking the abuser with blood and throwing them in a pit of starving, rabbid dogs. But taking the printout of one of those pages B posted to my library today, the librarian couldn't find the source of a single one of those references in any of the peer reviewed refereed journals there. Since I have tomorrow off and am going to be there anyway, I'm going to check out my old univeristy's library to do a little research, their stock and research facilities are a lot better.

This is a shitty issue, I couldn't and wouldn't give any argument as to what should happen to the abusers. The worse the punishment the better. But I personally wouldn't mind having a better, and to be honest more accurate view of how prevalent this kind of abuse is. And I also would disagree as to finding out why such people do such things. If you know why they do it, you can find them easier and maybe, just maybe stop the problem from happenings/getting worse and stop or stem the continued production of these monsters by society.

 

[B5150]

And I also would disagree as to finding out why such people do such things. If you know why they do it, you can find them easier and maybe, just maybe stop the problem from happenings/getting worse and stop or stem the continued production of these monsters by society.

Victims become perpetrators and the cycle continues. Now, granted not all molested children molest. But let me tell you I grew up with some very deviant, permiscuous and very unhealthy and unsafe sexual behaviors that carried well into adulthood. Not to mention a pretty serious substance abuse issue.

EDIT: Consider researching in some area of criminal-sex-offense/punishment/rehabilitation

 

[EEmain]

That is my point! Addiction is partly fueled by abuse. Mental, emotional, physical and sexual. It is a fact! Not from some book but from the trenchs in the last 12.5 years of working with recovering people.

CDB you won`t find any hard numbers. This not talked about except in the last 10 years or so. Generation after generation has this **** been going on. And what happens "She/he is lying." Count yourself among the fortunate having not been exposed to this my friend.

 

[delta314]

Victims become perpetrators and the cycle continues. Now, granted not all molested children molest. But let me tell you I grew up with some very deviant, permiscuous and very unhealthy and unsafe sexual behaviors that carried well into adulthood. Not to mention a pretty serious substance abuse issue.

EDIT: Consider researching in some area of criminal-sex-offense/punishment/rehabilitation

I agree 100%. Most of the people arrested for molestation have been victims themselves. It makes the child think that they did something wrong and that they deserve what happen. This results in low self esteem, and a lack of being able to function sexually with people their own age as they become adults. Then there are the heartless sick f*cks that do what they do because they are just rotten human beings (and I use the term human being loosely).

 

[motiv8erJR]

I didn't mean to imply all the pedos would be known and documented. But numbers like you suggest, well that goes beyond crime to an epidemic of perversion. Not saying it isn't true, just that it seems a bit odd and I personally would not want to believe it, because if true it's way, way, way too fucking disturbing.

CDB, seeing the Vagina Monologues might be a good starting point for your investigation. It isn't so much on child molestation, but on rape in general. I used to be of the same opinion as yourself. But I saw a couple of these skits performed... and they are true stories, that a lady has traveled the world gathering. I dont think anything has made me cry or as shocked as some of those stories....

sorry, thought I should just throw my 2 cents in. But the child molestation charges are no shamm. B51's quote might actually be only for the US. If I remember reading a couple of weeks ago, world wide the numbers are much different... worse....